Aboard the papal plane, Jan 19, 2015 / 12:15 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis backed Blessed Paul VI's teaching against birth control and urged openness to life, but reminded couples that “responsible parenthood” does not require them “to be like rabbits” in order to be good Catholics.

"I believe that openness to life conditions the sacrament of matrimony. A man cannot give the sacrament to the woman, and the woman give it to him, if they are not in agreement on this point to be open to life," Pope Francis said.

Asked by a German journalist if the Church would open up to birth control as a means of population control and limiting poverty, he said that the openness to life of a married couple means "responsible parenthood."

"The key word … and the one the Church always uses, and I do too, is 'responsible parenthood.' How do we do this? With dialogue," said Pope Francis.

He said that each person should work with his pastor to carry this out. He said later that Churches have marriage groups, experts and pastors, adding, "I know so many ways out there that are licit and that have helped this."

The Pope illustrated an example of "irresponsibility": a pregnant woman he met recently, already with seven children, each born by caesarean-section.

"But does she want to leave seven orphans?" he asked. "This is to tempt God."

Her response could be, "No, I trust in God," added Pope Francis.

"But God gives you methods to be responsible," he continued. "Some think that, and excuse the word, in order to be good Catholics we have to be like rabbits."

Aboard the papal plane, Jan 19, 2015 / 12:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- During his in-flight press conference from Manila to Rome, Pope Francis confirmed he plans stops in Philadelphia, New York City and Washington D.C. during his visit to the United States this autumn.

"The three cities are Philadelphia for the meeting of families, New York … for the visit to the UN, and Washington. It is these three," the Pope told journalists during his Jan. 19 return flight to Rome from the Philippines.

Pope Francis also confirmed that his September trip will not include stops in California, the U.S. - Mexico border, or Mexico proper; there had been speculation that these sites would be added to the U.S. visit agenda, particularly after Pope Francis announced plans to canonize Blessed Junipero Serra.

The 18th century Spanish-born missionary is buried at one of the nine missions he founded in California. Many of the missions still exist on the California coast, including the Carmel Mission and Mission San Juan Capistrano.

"I would like to go to California for the canonization of Junipero, but I think there is the problem of time. It requires two more days," Pope Francis said Jan. 19.

Instead, Pope Francis will canonize Bl. Serra at the National Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C.

“It is a national thing,” the Pope explained.

Organizers of the six-day papal trip to the United States finalized a possible itinerary last week for stops in Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington D.C.

The Holy See’s permanent ******* to the United Nations in New York, Archbishop Bernardito Auza is one of the organizers of the papal trip. He told CNA the trip is still in the planning stages, but Pope Francis will likely begin his trip Sept. 23 with a two-day visit to Washington, D.C.

During his time in Washington D.C., Pope Francis will canonize Bl. Serra. Other proposed events in the nation’s capital including a welcoming reception at the White House, an address to a joint-session of Congress, and either a meeting with youth at a juvenile detention center or a visit to a local hospital.

Pope Francis will then travel to New York City. The Holy Father confirmed that the U.N. is on his schedule for the visit. He may address the general assembly on Sept. 25. Other proposed but unofficial stops include a visit to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Mass at the Madison Square Garden arena. Organizers have also proposed inter-ethnic and inter-religious events in New York City.

But the highlight and primary reason for the Pope’s trip to the United States is the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

Pope Francis will lead celebrations at the World Meeting of Families Sept. 26 and 27, the final two days of the week-long event. More than 1 million people are expected to attend a Mass on Sept. 27.

During his in-air press conference Sept. 19, Pope Francis did comment on the possibility of adding Mexico to his agenda. The Pope said that “to enter the USA from the border of Mexico would be a beautiful thing, as a sign of brotherhood and of help to the immigrants.”

Pope Francis to Celebrate Vespers at Basilica of St. Paul in RomeRome, January 20, 2015

The Holy See has announced that Pope Francis will preside over the Celebration of Evening Vespers at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. The celebration will take place on Sunday, January 25th.

The Holy Father will celebrate the Solemnity of the Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle. In the statement written by Msgr. Guido Marini, the Master of the Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, the Holy See stated that the celebration will bring the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity to a close.

Beginning in 1908, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is a Christian ecumenical observance that is held annually between January 18 - 25th. The theme for this year is “Jesus said to her: ‘Give Me To Drink’”.

Pope gives thanks for apostolic journey to Asia2015-01-21 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday thanked the Lord for his just-ended pastoral visit to Sri Lanka and Philippines.

Speaking to pilgrims gathered in the Paul VI Hall because of the rain, the Pope recalled his journey last week mentioning the wealth of cultural and spiritual traditions of the Asian continent.

He described his visit as a joy-filled encounter with the Catholic communities in the nations he visited and spoke of the occasion he had to encourage inter-religious dialogue a the service of peace, unity and social development.

Highlighting some of the salient moments of his journey, the Pope said that in Sri Lanka he canonized Saint Joseph Vaz: “ a great missionary whose example of charity continues to inspire the faithful in their service to the poor and in respectful relations with the followers of other religions”.

And mentioning that Sri Lanka still suffers the effects of a prolonged civil conflict, Pope Francis said that during his meeting with religious leaders he asked that “we work together as agents of healing, peace and reconciliation.”

His main reason for visiting the Philippines, the Pope said, was “to be close to our brothers and sisters who were affected by the devastation of the Typhoon Yolanda”.

In Tacloban, “the region hardest hit by the typhoon, I paid tribute to the faith and to the capacity to rebuild of the local population” he said.

(Vatican Radio) The Holy See on Wednesday announced the names of the members of the Special College for the Examination of Appeals to the Ordinary Session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which shall be charged with hearing the cases of high-ranking clerics charged with the most serious crimes (delicta graviora), specifically: the sexual abuse of minors, and certain serious abuses associated with the Sacrament of Penance. The Holy Father announced the creation of the College in a rescript in November, 2014.

The College is composed of the following members:

President:

His Excellency, Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna, Auxiliary of Malta.

Members:

His Eminence Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education;

His Eminence Cardinal Attilio Nicora, Papal Legate for the Basilicas of St. Francis and St. Mary of the Angels in Assisi, President-emeritus of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See and the Financial Information Authority of the Holy See;

His Eminence Cardinal Francis Coccopalmerio, President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts;

His Eminence Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See;

Obama invokes Pope Francis in State of the Union address January 21, 2015

President Obama gave a papal shout-out in his State of the Union Tuesday night, the third president to reference a pope during the annual update to Congress.

Speaking about his administration’s efforts to normalize relations with Cuba, the president said:

“And this year, Congress should begin the work of ending the embargo. As His Holiness, Pope Francis, has said, diplomacy is the work of ‘small steps.’ These small steps have added up to new hope for the future in Cuba.”

In December, the Holy See confirmed that the Obama administration and the Vatican had been working together for more than a year to end decades of hostility and restore relations between the US and the Caribbean nation.

During a speech announcing the deal on Dec. 17, Obama thanked Pope Francis, “whose moral example shows us the importance of pursuing the world as it should be, rather than simply settling for the world as it is.”

(Vatican Radio) The most important thing is not the grace of a physical healing, but the fact that Jesus saves us and intercedes for us: this was the focus of Pope Francis’ remarks following the readings of the day at Mass on Thursday morning in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican.

Commenting on the Gospel of the day (Mark 3:7-12), which tells of great crowds rushing to Jesus from every region, Pope Francis said that the people of God see in the Lord “a hope, because His way of acting, teaching, touches their heart, reaches the heart, because it has the power of the Word of God”:

“The people feel this, and see that promises are fulfilled in Jesus, that in Jesus there is hope. The people were a bit bored by the way of teaching the faith, by the teachers of the Law of that time, who burdened the shoulders of the people with so many commandments, so many precepts, but did not come to people’s hearts. And when the people see Jesus and hear Jesus - His proposals, the Beatitudes – they feel something moving inside – it is the Holy Spirit that is causing people to stir – and they go to see Jesus.”

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis told an ecumenical delegation from Finland Thursday that Catholics and Lutherans can do much together “to bear witness to God’s mercy.” The delegation’s visit to Rome coincides with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and the Feast of St. Henry, the patron saint of Finland.

In his discourse to the Finnish delegates, Pope Francis applauded the progress achieved in ecumenical dialogue between the two Churches over the last thirty years and said, “a shared Christian witness is very much needed in the face of the mistrust, insecurity, persecution, pain and suffering experienced so widely in today’s world.”

Below, please find the text of Pope Francis’ discourse to the ecumenical delegation from Finland:

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis, in an audience with Vatican security personnel Thursday, thanked officers and agents for their service, saying the new year brings many expectations and hopes. Speaking to officers and agents of the Inspectorate of Public Security, State Police and chaplains for the security services, Pope Francis observed the new year also brings “darkness and dangers that worry humanity.” The Pope also said he wished in particular, to recall in prayer one of their Italian colleagues who recently passed away and offered a fond embrace to the man’s wife and son, also present at the audience.

As Christians, the Pope said, "we are called not to lose heart and not to be discouraged."

He reminded security officials of the human and Christian values they represent in “guarding and monitoring places that have great importance for the faith and the life of millions of pilgrims.” The Pope recalled the many people who come to visit the “heart of Christian Rome” and the times they turn to security personnel for assistance. “May each of them feel helped and guarded by your presence and your thoughtfulness,” he said, adding that the Lord holds us all accountable for the good and bad we have done towards others while carrying out our duties.

Below, please find Vatican Radio’s unofficial translation of the original text in Italian:

Vatican City, Jan 22, 2015 / 09:32 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As massive crowds of pro-life advocates gathered for the March for Life in Washington, D.C., Pope Francis on Thursday tweeted a short message of support.

“Every Life is a Gift,” he said Jan. 22, using the hashtag “#marchforlife.” The message went out to over 5.3 million Twitter followers on his English-language account “Pontifex.”

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said confession is not a judgment but a meeting with God who forgives all our sins, without exception. His words came during his homily at his morning Mass on Friday celebrated in the Santa Marta residence.

Basing his reflections on an extract from St Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, the Pope said our God forgives all our sins, always and without exception and He rejoices when somebody asks him for pardon. This God who pardons us, he continued, choose Jesus to set up a new pact with humanity and the cornerstone of this pact is forgiveness for our sins.

“First of all, God always forgives us. He never tires of this. It’s we who get tired of asking for forgiveness. But HE does not tire of pardoning us. When Peter asked Jesus: ‘How many times must I forgive? Seven times?’ – ‘Not seven times: seventy times by seven.’ Namely always. That’s how God forgives us: always. But if you have lived a life full of so many sins, so many bad things, but in the end, a bit repentant, you ask for forgiveness, He will immediately pardon you! He always pardons us.”

Pope Francis said a doubt can arrive in a person’s heart over how far God is prepared to forgive us. But, he stressed, all you have to do is repent and ask for forgiveness and you don’t have to pay because Christ has already paid on our behalf.

“There is no sin which He won’t pardon. He forgives everything. ‘But father, I don’t go to confession because I have committed so many really bad sins, so many that I can’t be pardoned.’ No, this is not true. He forgives everything. If you go (to confession) repentant, He will forgive everything. When… so many times He doesn’t even let you speak! You start to ask for forgiveness and He lets you feel that joy of forgiveness before you have even finished confessing everything.”

To the Tribunal of the Roman Rota: do not ensnare salvation in the constraints of legalism

Vatican City, 23 January 2015 (VIS) – Pope Francis today received in audience the dean, prelate auditors, officials and collaborators of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, in order to inaugurate the legal year. In his address, the Holy Father focused on the human and cultural context in which matrimonial intent is formed. He emphasised that the crisis of values in society is not a recent phenomenon, and recalled that forty years ago Pope Paul VI had already denounced the ailments of modern man, “at times wounded by a systematic relativism, that bends to the easiest choices of circumstance, of demagogy, of fashion, of passion, of hedonism, of selfishness, so that externally he attempts to dispute the mastery of the law, and internally, almost without realising, substitutes the empire of moral conscience with the whim of psychological consciousness”.

The Pope highlighted the role of the judge, who is require to perform his judicial analysis where there is doubt regarding the validity of marriage, to ascertain whether there was an original shortcoming in consent, either directly in terms of a defect in the validity of intention or a grave deficit in the understanding of marriage itself to the extent of determining will. The crisis in marriage, indeed, not infrequently has at its root the crisis in knowledge enlightened by faith, or rather by adhesion to God and His plan of love realised in Jesus Christ”.

Decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints2015-01-23 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) On Thursday afternoon Pope Francis Francis received in a private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:

MIRACLES

- attributed to the Venerable Servant of God Maria Teresa Casini, Italian foundress of the Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1864-1937);

MARTYRDOM

- Servants of God Fidela (nee Dolores Oller Angelats) and two companions, Spanish professed nuns of the Institute of Sisters of St. Joseph, killed in hatred of the faith in Spain between 26 and 29 August 1936;

- Servants of God Pio Heredia Zubia and seventeen companions, of the Trappists of Cantabria and the Cistercian nuns of the Congregation of St. Bernard, killed in hatred of the faith in Spain in 1936;

- Servant of God Tshimangadzo Samuel Benedict Daswa (ne Bakali), South African layperson, killed in hatred of the faith in South Africa on 2 February 1990.

Message for World Communications Day: Communicating the Family2015-01-23 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Vatican has issued Pope Francis’ Message for the 49TH World Day of Social Communications, the only worldwide celebration called for by the Second Vatican Council (Inter mirifica, 1963). The theme of this year’s message: “Communicating the Family – a Privileged Place of Encounter with the Gift of Love.”

The World Day of Social Communications is celebrated in almost all countries on the Sunday before Pentecost. The announcement comes on the eve of 24 January, the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron of journalists, and the day on which the message traditionally is released.

This year’s message calls on the faithful to see families as “a resource rather than as a problem for society” and invites families to be examples of Christ’s love, kindness and fellowship.

“In a world where people often curse, use foul language, speak badly of others, sow discord and poison our human environment by gossip, the family can teach us to understand communication as a blessing,” the Pope writes. “In situations apparently dominated by hatred and violence, where families are separated by stone walls or the no less impenetrable walls of prejudice and resentment, where there seem to be good reasons for saying “enough is enough”, it is only by blessing rather than cursing, by visiting rather than repelling, and by accepting rather than fighting, that we can break the spiral of evil, show that goodness is always possible, and educate our children to fellowship.”

Below please find the complete text of Pope Francis’ Message for the 49th World Day of Social Communications:

Pope to Cardinals-designate: Being a Cardinal is not a prize2015-01-23 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a letter to each of the 20 Churchmen who will be elevated to the College of Cardinals during the consistory on February 14th in the Vatican. In his letter, the Pope reminded the prelates that being a Cardinal is a vocation to serve and stressed the need to be humble.

“Staying humble, whilst serving is not easy,” he said, when people consider the cardinalate “as a prize, or the peak of one’s career,” a dignified position of power or of superior distinction. The Pope urged them to strive every day to stay away from such considerations.

Archbishop George Gänswein, the prefect of the papal household and personal secretary to the pope emeritus

An interesting interview in Christ & Welt, a weekly supplement to Die Zeit in Germany, with Archbishop Georg Gänswein yesterday. It sheds some interesting lights on recent developments in the Vatican, such as Pope Francis’ Christmas talk to the Curia, the Pope’s relationship with the media, the Synod and also retired Pope Benedict XVI and some personal touches. Worth a read:

“If it is assumed that we all belong to human nature, prejudices and falsehoods can be overcome and an understanding of the other according to a new perspective can begin.”

These were the words said by Pope Francis to the members of the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies today. The audience coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Institute’s opening.

In his address, the Pope noted the progress that has been made in interreligious dialogue. He also reflected on the exercise of listening to one another as not only a condition but a duty in acknowledging the values of others and in shedding a light on shared beliefs.

“At the heart of everything is the need for an adequate formation so that, steadfast in one’s own identity, we can grow in mutual knowledge,” he said.

Pope speaks on 10th anniversary of Church instruction on nullity of marriage2015-01-24 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met on Saturday afternoon with the participants of a three-day international conference in Rome, marking the 10th anniversary of Dignitas connubii, the instruction to be observed by diocesan and inter-diocesan tribunals in handling cases of the nullity of marriage.

In his prepared text, Pope Francis said the high participation at the three-day conference demonstrates “a generous response to the stresses that every authentic minister of the tribunals of the Church feels for the good of souls.”

It also demonstrates the “importance of Dignitas connubii, which is not directed to law specialists but to the workers in the local tribunals,” he said. "It is, in fact, a modest but useful vademecum (handbook) that really takes the ministers of the tribunals by the hand toward the implementation of a process that is both sure and expeditious.”

“A sure process because it indicates and explains with clarity the goal of the process itself, namely moral certainty: this requires that any prudent, positive doubt of error be totally excluded, even if the mere possibility of the contrary is not excluded,” he said, referring to Article 247, Section 2, of the instruction.

“An expeditious process because—as common experience teaches—those who know well the road to travel, go more quickly,” he continued. “The knowledge and, I would say, the use of this instruction can, even in the future, help ministers of the tribunals to shorten case proceedings, often perceived by spouses as long and wearisome.”